countessian

a little itty bit, in Iowa

First, the fortune teller ran away with an accountant in Dubuque. While ironically unforeseen, her departure didn’t cause much of a stir; people run away from the circus just as often as off with it, though it isn’t as much commented on among normal folk, of course.

The next to go was the midget clown, who drowned after passing out drunk face down on the floor of a flooded saloon outhouse near Cedar Rapids. The seven-foot-one other half of the double act shot himself beneath the big top the next night in Waterloo, splattering blood and brain matter on the first three rows. Neither had been well liked in life, and was not much missed in death by the remainder of the troop, which soldiered on to Sioux City.

The following night passed without much human incident, but the agitated tiger, Raj, was dosed with a tranq dart intended for the elephants by the inexperienced son o the tattooed lady, while the tamer was otherwise engaged with the mute Wolf Child. On discovering his favourite beast unnaturally slumped with the oversized dart in his flank, the tamer burst forth with drunken cries of vengeance against the skinny boy who’d served as his apprentice since the age of six years and two months.

“I’ll smash your skull against the great King’s Arch!” he roared. “I’ll dash your brains out along the Stoneglass Bridge!”

His face glowed red as his beard, but Mr Valentine restrained him before he smashed anything more than bourbon bottles.

On arrival in Lincoln a few nights later, the three Silent Indians (who weren’t really silent, but just didn’t much care to talk to anyone) were offered double pay by a travelling rodeo, and took their horses with them. (They never saw much of the income they were promised, but that’s another story.) After the deal was discerned, the depleted troop sat watching as Mr Valentine paced—knuckle to lip—and contemplated his latest loss.

No related posts.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 9th, 2009 at 11:53 pm. It is filed under documentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.